Blog Three- Movement and Dance

Blog Three- The use of Technology with Movement and Dance

Please see in below picture-This is our mat time and dance area

For my final blog I have decided to discuss and reflect on the use of the stereo in the pre-schoolers room at the centre I work at part time. In this instance, the use of digital technology, the stereo, was used as a tool to enhance the play that the children were engaging in which therefore enhanced their learning.

Easter is coming up this weekend,  in our centre and every year we celebrate these special events by decorating our room with pictures and banners, we set up small group activities on the tables and set up art activities that relate to Easter.

Last week as the children began arriving at the centre, they looked up at the Easter wall that we had finished decorating the night before and they began to become full of excitement. They ran straight over to a little table that had bunny masks, bunny ears and little baskets with Easter egg decorations in them and they started to use the props to get dressed up.

I am a supporter of Lev Vygotskys socio-cultural theory, whereby children learn best in a social context, in groups and being surrounded by other individuals. Vygotsky believed that by playing out different roles, children were able to realise that there were certain rules that came with the role and they needed to act according to those rules that were applied, therefore this type of play helped to develop a child’s self control (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2007).

As I watched the children (mainly girls in this group of 6) engage and interact with each other I was drawn in to the whole experience and the game that I could see them begin to play, this type of pretend play in small groups helps to build on important social skills, “Children develop some early concepts of the value of appreciating diversity and fairness” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 66). They organised different roles for each other, “I’m the mummy”, “I want to be the baby”, “You can be the daddy”, they said. I watched as the children very diplomatically and fairly assigned a character to each other and they happily agreed on each role.

The Easter wall and table where the children were playing is in the same area as our mat time area. I observed as the children ran over to it with baskets in hand to put on some music. They successfully turned it on and found the cd that they wanted to play and found the right song to match their game. The song they chose was “Little Rabbit Foo Foo”. They all began to skip in a circle and jump up and down “Children develop confidence with moving in space, moving to rhythm, and playing near and with others” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 86).

The use of music in enhancing the play and learning opportunities for children is important and highly valued within our centre, most days we have the stereo on with different centre approved children’s cd’s playing. When children listen to music and engage in dancing they are refining their physical and motor skills as well as balance, co-ordination, movement and rhythmic ability, “Children develop increasing control over their bodies, including development of loco-motor skills, non-loco-motor skills, manipulative skills, and increasing agility, co-ordination and balance” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 86). It is important as an early childhood educator to provide the correct environment for these experiences to take place and to encourage and praise children when they engage in this play (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009).  

This is a form of technology and links to The New Zealand Curriculum in the technology Strand as it is a big part of the culture of our centre and offers important tools for communication and exploration for the children (The New Zealand Curriculum, 2007).

In the future I would further extend the children’s interests by bringing in my laptop and introducing yet another piece of valuable to technology to their experience. I could You-tube different Easter bunny videos and songs to enhance the learning opportunities for the children.

References:

Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Dockett, S., Farmer, S., & Death, E. (2008). Programming and                   planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.).  Victoria, South Australia: Thomson.

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices          in theory and practice (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forrest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he whaariki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o             Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning                 Media.